A rumor has been floating around since Thursday that The Runaways may not get its wide release expansion on April 9th like we’ve all been told. Somebody on Examiner.com tried to make us all feel better by claiming it was an April Fool’s Day prank, but that does not seem to be true.
Box Office Mojo is a site that gathers film statistics as reported by the film studios themselves. On Thursday, the site reported the early theater count estimate for The Runaways for the weekend of April 9th as 200, a far cry from the 1400 theaters we were promised. (Actually, I don’t remember if we were promised 1400 screens or 1400 theaters, but whatever. It’s still less.) Apparition has not publicly confirmed or denied this number, probably because it is Easter weekend and they might all be on vacation. (But that’s just speculation on my part.) The official theater count for April 9th won’t be updated on Box Office Mojo until Thursday, April 8th.
Box Office Mojo interpreted this number for us in the following tweet, which is what started the panic:
“‘The Runaways’ lost most of its theaters this weekend, but will be back to around 200 on 4/9. Nationwide expansion canceled.”
And this tweet:
“No missing zero. ‘The Runaways’ is no longer getting a nationwide release on 4/9, likely due to its poor showing so far.”
I don’t understand what they mean by “poor showing”. In its first weekend, The Runaways only opened on 244 screens and had the fourth-highest dollars-per-screen average of the top 18-grossing films that week. Fourth. How much better could it have done? The film cost $10 million to make, but you can’t earn all of that back in two weeks in just 10 cities. I always thought this “platform release” crap was a mistake, and that they waited too long to start the expansion. The Runaways is not a blockbuster like Alice in Wonderland or Twilight, so it won’t sustain a four-month run like those films do. But it should get a few good weeks in any market it appears in, especially in highly populated areas. The word of mouth about the film has been amazing, from critics and fans alike. This film is not a flashy spectacle. It’s a slow, gradual burn.
I’m sure some film executives in suits have a spreadsheet or a database full of “evidence” supporting their decisions, and I just sound like an hysterical loon to them. Fans are not people, right? Fans are just a potential zero in a bank account.
A lot of people are saying, “Calm down. You’ll get to see it on DVD eventually.” But that’s not good enough for me. This isn’t just another opportunity to consume 12,000 calories worth of hot buttered popcorn and pop (aka soda) while glaring at the inconsiderate bitches who light up the whole theater with their cell phones. I can do that at the 99-cent theater for a lot less money and aggravation.
For fans of The Runaways and Joan Jett, this isn’t just another movie. This is the story of one of the best bands, male or female, in the history of the world. The Runaways were marginalized as “jailbait rock” by an industry that had its head buried in one too many spreadsheets. The fans, like the band itself, were dismissed, ridiculed, and forgotten. This is our story, just as much as it is theirs.
In 35 years, it seems like nothing has changed.
I have personally waited 22 years for this story, my history, to be told. Some have waited longer. The Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning fans are just as passionate, and have their own stake in this. But we share this. We are a community. And we deserve to be heard. We deserve to be remembered. We deserve to be counted.
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WHAT CAN WE DO?
1. Call your local theaters and physically tell them that you want them to show The Runaways.
2. If you are lucky enough to be near a theater showing The Runaways, go see it as many times as you can. Road trip if you have to. See #3. There’s a list of theaters that have the movie THIS WEEKEND.
3. Tell your friends and family. Get the word out. Use Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, and everything else you have at your disposal.
4. Follow @RunawaysFilm on Twitter, on their MySpace page, and their Facebook page. Tell them your location and tell them you want The Runaways in wide release. Add the hashtag #RUNAWAYSFILMWIDE to all of your tweets if you’re on Twitter.
5. Contact the head of publicity at Apparition:
Vicky Eguia
Vicky.eguia@gmail.com
Phone 818-521-2681 *fax 213-253-4615
Details courtesy of @BellasGuardian and KStew’s Global Army. This is publicly available information, so no one is being stalked. Please be respectful. This is not her fault. Going apeshit won’t help our cause. Send her the link to this blog if you want. 🙂
6. Click the picture below to join the demand for The Runaways on eventful.com. Don’t forget to clear the special offers check box if you don’t want them. This site is global, so it will work in any country or city. Eventful.com lets you create a widget that you can add to your MySpace, website, etc. If you have a blog that does not support flash or javascript and can’t use their widget, grab the graphic I made for the demand from here and just attach the URL to it when you add it to your site. I don’t even care if you credit me or not, just grab it and post it everywhere you can.
Born to be Jetthead 
I can’t believe this! I will drive and fly to the end of earth to see the movie if i must. I have done more for less. Great suggestions to get the attention of these so called “experts.” Now to research where i need to go to see it the theater rather than a recluse at home by myself!
Apparition dropped the ball on this one. I never understood the reason behind the platform release. The movie had huge premieres at Sundance in Park City, LA, NYC, Toronto and at SXSW in Austin. Those events comes with a lot of free press… Movie Reviews, Bloggers, ET, Access Hollywood, E News, Daily 10, MTV, Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, etc. The hype was never going to be greater than during the media whirlwind surrounding the premieres, so capitalize on that and open nationwide. And who is in charge of promoting this thing? It’s like they haven’t even bothered. Where are all TV trailers, magazine covers (I’m looking at you Rollingstone!) and all the other marketing ploys? It’s like they put zero effort into it and have then gave up before it even had a real chance at success. This film deserved better than that! Kristen and Dakota deserved better! And yet again, The Runaways deserved better! Shame on you Apparition!
They totally dropped the ball. They made it sound like a wide release was in the bag. If they had asked us for help sooner we could have helped them SOONER. This is ridiculous.
Apparition should be ashamed. They completely abandoned this film. Whoever developed the marketing plan for this movie should be fired immediately. First of all, they started out by announcing a release date of March 19, 2010. Then pics of Joan and Kristen start showing up everywhere. People begin to get excited because the resemblance is uncanny. Sundance comes along. Reviews and buzz are off the charts. Joan performs an amazing concert. People head home and start spreading the word about how good the film is. Preview screenings start popping up. More excitement builds. Then, all of a sudden, the decision is made to release the film in just 244 theaters on March 19, with a planned wide release on April 9. Confusion sets in. The film opens. The good reviews keep coming; word of mouth is strong. But unless you’re in one of the lucky cities, you can’t see it. Time goes by, excitement abates, promotion stops, people think the film is dead. April 9 comes and the film bombs….Why? Because Apparition blew it. It should have been released nationwide on March 19. End of story.
As a long-time Joan Jett fan, I’ve been waiting for this kind of event for 35 years. It’s extremely frustrating and sad for me to see this film, this testament to Joan’s career and legacy, just dropped. She has been disrespected and we, as fans, have been disrespected.
Sadly, as Joan said, in 35 years nothing has changed.
I agree COMPLETELY. What the fuck were they thinking?? (Forgive my language, I’m just upset.) I’m sick and tired of people assuming we fans don’t exist. Or that we’re stupid.
THANK YOU, Stephanie, for commenting on this blog and loving Joan and The Runaways!
I have been waiting to see this forever it seems like .I will be very disappointed if I can’t see it in the theater .I would understand if the movie sucked and it just could not make it but it does not suck there is no excuse for them not to wide release it . I could probally make a few inquires and have a “copy” of the movie in my house in a few days ,but I want to go and see it on the big screen .So I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping it hits my area next weekend
Yeah yeah YEAH!
HERE IN ARGENTINA I HAD TO WAIT TIL APRIL 22TH , AND NOW THE MOTHERFUCKERS CHANGED THE REALESE DATE AND I HAVE TO WAIT TIL MAY 20TH . I’M SO PISSED OFF . I JUST CANT BELIEVE IT ! I WANT HIT THEM WITH A BOARD!
Aww. I really feel bad for fans in every other country of the world. You have to wait months longer than we do.
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This is a fucking kick in the teeth. I will see the advanced screening on South Beach Tuesday, thank the gods I jumped on tickets as soon as I learned of the screening. One thing I’ve learned as a Jetthead over the past 3 decades is you snooze you loose. This is bullshit, I am so pissed. I hope that Kenny and Joan are at the screening, I’d like to know wtf happenned here. I tried to e-mail the link but it came back undelieverable. Time and time again our voices are not heard, I am sick of being the underdog. Aside from BH no one listens.
Have you checked your Sunday paper today? My mom just told me that Pittsburgh is getting ‘The Runaways’ in two theaters. Maybe South Florida will get it too.
Oh my God. It’s driving me crazy!
We ALL need The Runaways in cinemas.
Well, Americans have way better situation than Europe.
Wait longer a months… I’m afraid that if there won’t be wide release in USA they won’t screen the film in any other country.
Let’s do something.*I’ll do my best!!* We need to be heard.:)
Rock on, JJElectric!!
I hope you get it in Europe ,I would have thought that since the Runaways had a lot more popularity in Europe and in Japan that they would get it ,keeping my fingers crossed for you